How common is car clocking in Ireland?

W123-80's · 23-02-2019 02:24AM #1

Per thread title!
In all my years driving I can honestly say I don't think I have ever bought a clocked car, and if I have I got away with it in blissful ignorance!
Regulars will know my mechanical knowledge of cars is below average, I don't have a clue outside of the general basics but I am confident when it comes to reading adverts, guaging sellers and I try to stick to relatively low risk cars. That's my approach and it works!
But clocked cars is something that always perplexed me! Mostly because there are generally far too many red flags before ever you get to the discussion of clocking when buying a car. If clocking is even in the conversation then surely it's time to walk away.
Unless of course there are very sophisticated car clocking merchants out there, taking just the right amount of miles off a car to avoid suspicion. My gut tells me that would only work for cars in the low/mid price range, so maybe 3k to 6/7k. Anything priced lower and it's a gamble anyway and anything priced higher and you are surely going to insist on some sort of paperwork.
So if my ramble makes any sense, is car clocking a genuine concern in Ireland?

bazz26 · 23-02-2019 03:12AM

Yes it is because there are still people out there that will pay a premium for a car with the lowest possible digits on the odometer yet do no background checks whatsoever to verify the mileage. Modern cars also wear mileage a lot better than before especially the interiors making clocking easier.

Sam Quentin · 23-02-2019 03:18AM

I would think there is not much 'lee-way' when it comes to clocking a car nowadays,.so I would assume it's not as common or as profitable as it was before the nct. Mileage is noted and available for all to see....

racso1975 · 23-02-2019 09:27AM

And yet so many don't or won't check the information that's out there and available to them. I reckon it high enough but then I trust nobody!! Unless they can prove it to me with history etc that I can verify then I don't believe it.

monkeysnapper · 24-02-2019 12:15AM

i was looking at a hyundai i40 estate back in October , the car had done 367000 km and had a pile of service history . God dam that car drove like it just left the forecourt and if it had 100,000 miles on clock you wouldnt even batter an eyelid.

Atlantic Dawn · 24-02-2019 12:16AM

Very few people do history checks, the market is ripe for rip off.

Mintoe · 24-02-2019 09:38AM

Trust me it’s happening and its far more common than you’d think..... there are lots of people that simply don’t do any or enough checks before parting with € so it’s fairly easy to get away with..... do a Motorcheck report and check service & Nct records

zurbfoundation · 24-02-2019 09:39AM

its happening very regularly

Shefwedfan · 24-02-2019 09:54AM

Very very common. Especially on UK imports. Unfortunately I got caught, Audi from UK. I had bought a car from guy previously but he was in a different dealership. Car was pristine. I mean not a mark on it. They had service book with it all stamped and the mistake I made, they handed me the car check instead of me doing it.

The car drove like new, really lovely. Paid and something was nagging at me so I rang Audi UK. It was sold to me at 80k miles, the last service they had done was 2 years before at 150k miles. I was floored. Rang the dealer and was lucky to get money back, guy said it was his frist time etc etc but I checked another car on lot and it was clocked as well

A load of dealers in Dublin at it, happening all the time. I only work with main dealers now. Whatever chance you have it is only with them.

enricoh · 24-02-2019 10:04AM

A lad i worked with was finishing work one Friday and said he was off to see a Lithuanian magician.
I said naively is it one of the kids birthdays tomorrow and yer getting him in!
No, he was paying him e70 n getting it clocked. A week later he had a victim n car sold

mickdw · 24-02-2019 10:23AM

It's everywhere and since the law has toughened up, I don't know why more garages are not being dragged to court.
Pretty much everything imported private and sold on with UK plate is clocked.

Shefwedfan · 24-02-2019 11:02AM

https://www.whatcar.com/advice/buying/car-clocking-what-is-it-and-how-to-avoid-buying-a-clocked-car/n1219

Seems to be a huge issue in UK. Best case last year over 6000 car bought from UK clocked.

In reality you are probably looking at 50% plus of cars imported from UK are clocked.

Rows Grower · 24-02-2019 11:13AM

I was asked by a friend of mine who was interested in buying a used Mercedes CLK to come along for a look and the test drive, I'm no mechanic but he genuinely wouldn't have a clue what to look out for. When I heard it was 16 years old, one owner, with just over 32,000 miles on the clock I was very curious. It was a POA situation and although it was a main dealer selling it he wasn't a Mercedes dealer.

A quick look at the outside revealed 4 almost bald tyres and 4 alloy wheels that looked like they had been attacked with a wire brush attached to a drill. When I opened the passenger door I could see more chrome peeling, a piece actually fell into the footwell when I closed the door. We sat in the car waiting for the sales rep to get the garage plates and it was evident the car had a lot of cosmetic wear. The ashtray wouldn't open. The top of the passenger seat was worn away from being pushed back after allowing in back seat passengers.

On the test drive I asked the rep about service history, "there is none but the car is perfect".
How long do ye have the car "Oh we took it as a trade in about 7 or 8 years ago and the boss has been driving it the odd time since".
How much will it cost to tax it? "Not too sure about that now". (1,294 euro)
What kind of warranty will be given with it? "Warranty? Eh I'll ask the boss... I'll ask him for three months on the engine and gearbox and see what he says."
Then my friend asked how much would he take for it? "Well there's 7,000 written in my folder but I could try to get him down a bit if you're really interested he might go as low as 6,500 cash."

I had to talk my friend out of buying this car, and surprise surprise, it's still for sale.

I'm not saying this car doesn't have genuine mileage on it but it sure as hell hasn't aged well for something that averaged about 40 miles a week.

bbbbb · 24-02-2019 11:13AM

What about private individuals with pcp contracts and mileage limits?
If you’re being charged 6c for every km, then every 10k = €600

LillySV · 24-02-2019 11:15AM

All the small dealers at it, I’m seeing car transporter lorries carrying full loads of crashed/damaged uk reg cars into Galway the whole time.... I’m including a link to a recent case in Galway where dealer done for it ...but as i actually seen another truck yesterday, there’s clearly more than him at it!

https://www.ccpc.ie/business/galway-car-trader-receives-4-month-suspended-sentence/

Shefwedfan · 24-02-2019 11:22AM

LillySV wrote: »

All the small dealers at it, I’m seeing car transporter lorries carrying full loads of crashed/damaged uk reg cars into Galway the whole time.... I’m including a link to a recent case in Galway where dealer done for it ...but as i actually seen another truck yesterday, there’s clearly more than him at it!

https://www.ccpc.ie/business/galway-car-trader-receives-4-month-suspended-sentence/

It's not just Galway, it is well known that any dealer on longmile road/Naas road has every single car clocked to last.....out around the airport as well now is getting a nice little reputation

Go to any county in Ireland, ask around and they will point out all the "dealers" who are at it.....

LillySV · 24-02-2019 11:43AM

Shefwedfan wrote: »

It's not just Galway, it is well known that any dealer on longmile road/Naas road has every single car clocked to last.....out around the airport as well now is getting a nice little reputation

Go to any county in Ireland, ask around and they will point out all the "dealers" who are at it.....

I’d say anyone wanting uk car needs to go across themselves and get it with FSH as buying it here,the dealers most likely brought in dirt to make a massive margin on it

Shefwedfan · 24-02-2019 11:53AM

LillySV wrote: »

I’d say anyone wanting uk car needs to go across themselves and get it with FSH as buying it here,the dealers most likely brought in dirt to make a massive margin on it

You have a few dealers who are good, so can't black mark them all.

majority as you say are buying s**t and then throwig it out into the market and the Irish customer is lapping it up.....

Littlehorny · 24-02-2019 12:07PM

Has it ever been proved that Jap imports are getting clocked on the way over? Wife has a Honda Insight and it has full Japanese service history but sure the paperwork for it could be from anywhere.

Atlantic Dawn · 24-02-2019 12:11PM

Littlehorny wrote: »

Has it ever been proved that Jap imports are getting clocked on the way over? Wife has a Honda Insight and it has full Japanese service history but sure the paperwork for it could be from anywhere.

You could ask to see the auction sheet, that would disclose the mileage at time of auction. No idea what controls are in place in Japan to prevent clocking prior to that, I'd imagine with it being such a low crime country that it would be rare.

Seth Brundle · 24-02-2019 12:12PM

Littlehorny wrote: »

Has it ever been proved that Jap imports are getting clocked on the way over? Wife has a Honda Insight and it has full Japanese service history but sure the paperwork for it could be from anywhere.

I had an 2003 E39 525i that I bought in 2010 after it was imported from Japan. 16000km on the clock.
Verified by BMW (and I managed to get the full service history from Murphy & Gunn).

Point is that you need to get it inspected properly if you're unsure

24-02-2019 12:13PM

Just do the checks. It's easy and not expensive.

Shefwedfan · 24-02-2019 12:33PM

It would be interesting if you added a poll to this thread, anonymous to see who has bought a clocked car. I bet you would be in the high 90% saying they never bought a clocked car

Maybe do on a seperate thread, it would be interesting if people are truthful what the results would be,.....

Mods???

mickdw · 24-02-2019 12:36PM

Checking UK reg for sale on donedeal against the mot checker site can almost be a sport.

Charles Babbage · 24-02-2019 12:43PM

In relation to the imports, do the VRT people not require the mileage?
This should open up the possibility of throwing the book at these chancers for some sort of tax fraud.

Shefwedfan · 24-02-2019 12:46PM

Charles Babbage wrote: »

In relation to the imports, do the VRT people not require the mileage?
This should open up the possibility of throwing the book at these chancers for some sort of tax fraud.

Higher mileage for VRT reduces the VRT

Shave 100k off it and advertise in Ireland and you make money on both sides....No idea how exactly it is done but it is been done all the time....

MrMusician18 · 24-02-2019 03:30PM

Shefwedfan wrote: »

It would be interesting if you added a poll to this thread, anonymous to see who has bought a clocked car. I bet you would be in the high 90% saying they never bought a clocked car

Maybe do on a seperate thread, it would be interesting if people are truthful what the results would be,.....

Mods???

I'd say 90% of people who've bought a clocked car don't know it's clocked

And if they had, I doubt they'd want to know

zurbfoundation · 25-02-2019 10:14AM

bbbbb wrote: »

What about private individuals with pcp contracts and mileage limits?
If you’re being charged 6c for every km, then every 10k = €600

excelent point

italodisco · 25-02-2019 10:18AM

Buying private in the UK is too risky, nearly all adverts I called recently off auto trader UK based either hung up or got very edgy and defensive when I mentioned having an Audi mechanic look over it.

Same story here buying privately, especially off Eastern European lads.

Big no no

CrankyHaus · 25-02-2019 10:28AM

Sam Quentin wrote: »

I would think there is not much 'lee-way' when it comes to clocking a car nowadays,.so I would assume it's not as common or as profitable as it was before the nct. Mileage is noted and available for all to see....

NCT is only required for cars 4 years or older. Mileage accumulated before that can and will be clocked off, particularly if the vehicle was driven a lot (rental or company lease) or someone exceeded their PCP mileage limits.

The legal situation, where these services can be freely advertised and convictions are brought under the consumer protection act with 6 month max sentence, does little to prevent the practice.

Auguste Comte · 25-02-2019 10:33AM

Do most modern cars not record the milage on the ECU, can this be changed easily by some cowboy with a laptop and obd cable?

How common is car clocking in Ireland?

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